


One Last Wish

by Lionwings



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: I apologize for how sad this is, M/M, Mentions of Cancer, Technically this is a christmas story, This is a very sad angsty story, just so you know, there is kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-23
Updated: 2014-09-23
Packaged: 2018-02-18 12:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2349170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lionwings/pseuds/Lionwings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every year as the man walks his way to his job, he prepares himself for the longest minute of his life. But nothing at all could ever prepare him for this particular year.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Last Wish

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone. I both apologize and not apologize for this story. It's really sad, and has tormented me for a long time. I hope that this doesn't offend anyone and I want you to know that I am, in no way romanticizing this. I wanted this to be a story of letting go, and I also wanted to post this around Christmas of last year, but it kind of got away from me. I hope you like it!

Christmas Eve that year was cold and unforgiving. The winds whipped and the snow pelted upon the ground. The white snow darkened to a deep black as the last light of the sun disappeared, leaving a cold unfeeling world beneath the wicked stormy sky. The people were inside their homes, warming themselves near the fire and keeping bright with the hope that the next day would bring happiness.

As his time came, a man rose from his seat and started making his way to his job. He glanced to the clock and noted that he had a few minutes before he had to leave. He looked at his wife, who was sleeping peacefully in their bed. She must have been exhausted from the amount of work she had done. It was a make or break time of year, and while he was confident that everything would be done, she had her doubts. But he finally realized that she wasn’t worried about everything getting done, but was worrying for him.

He stroked a hair behind her ear and kissed her gently on the forehead before walking out of the room and towards his work. He put on his hat and coat and made his way to the factory. The workers were still buzzing to and fro, trying to tie up any sort of loose ends before their boss came in and they got fired. He chuckled because they all knew that he would never fire them and that they were almost as close to he as his family was. When he entered the room all of them turned to him and smiled.

“Everything’s ready for launch,” they recited.

The man smiled and walked towards his load. “I can see that. Good work everyone. I know that you worked very hard this year, but we all know that we still have work to do; we’re not done until every package is delivered! Now, to your positions! We have three minutes!”

The workers rushed to their places, well aware of what to do. The transport was prepped, the guidance system was turned on and checked, and the packages were readied. By the time the man was sitting in the sleigh, everything was ready and the elves were cheering. 

The man grabbed the reigns of his sleigh and whipped his team into action. The deer started racing down the snow covered track and pulled him high into the sky, and he watched as the earth stood still underneath his sleigh. The elves stopped moving and the snow paused in its constant decent upon the earth. He glanced at his watch and gave a sad smile when he saw it frozen at 12:00 am. He shook his head as he made to his first house and delivered the presents to the family who was frozen in time.

Christmas was the loneliest day for Santa Claus. He might have been giving gifts to people and bringing hope and cheer to children everywhere, but only at the price of extreme loneliness for a long grueling minute. Time was frozen and he was the only one alive on the entire earth, but only for one, eternal, moment. As soon as he landed back in the North Pole, everything would once again be alive, and the cruel loneliness would cease. But it was only one house down and the entire earth to go.

***

The entire world was almost done. Almost every present was delivered and all the children would be happy to open their presents and he would be home with his wife and the many elves that cared for him. He had but one present left, and that confused him. The present had a name and address on it, but there was no one left on his list and there wasn’t a child alive who wasn’t on his list.

He landed on the roof of the address and was surprised to land on a small hospital. It was one that he had visited earlier in the night, giving the toys to the small children who were all sleeping soundly in their hospital beds. He specifically remembered putting another log on the fire before moving on; making sure that the children would be warm enough for the rest of the night.

He stepped out of his sleigh and slunk down the chimney with precision and ease, something that could only truly come with age and experience. He popped from the bottom of the fireplace, and brushed the soot from his suit. The hospital was the same as he left it, a still-life of the real experience. The doctors were paused as they rushed to their patients and the nurses sitting at their stations, waiting for any sort of instruction from the doctors or call from the patients. 

He wondered who in the seven layers of hell he could have missed. He prided himself on being precise when handing out his gifts. He hadn’t missed a child in well over three hundred years, and he was certainly not going to get rid of that record. He marched down the halls, quickly making for the children’s ward. Much to his chagrin, he found that every child had been given their present. 

“Who could this last present belong to?” He asked to no one in particular, but was immediately silent as he started to hear some sort of sound coming from down the hallways.

He turned from the cozy children’s ward and found himself wandering down the dark hallways, trying to find the source of the sound. The noise itself shouldn’t have existed. Father Time had told him when he first learned the spell that every person, animal, and inanimate object would be completely frozen in time, unless he cast the spell wrong. But he knew that it was impossible, because he had used the spell for well over a thousand years and it hadn’t failed him once. But it seemed that, this time, someone else had gotten through his magic, which was quite a feat on its own.

His ears were assaulted with the harsh sound as he made his way down the long-term patient ward. He wasn’t sure why he was there; normally children weren’t in that kind of ward and were put into the child’s ward to make them feel more comfortable. He was confident that no one in the long-term ward believed in him, most had given up on magic and hope many years back.

He paused in front of a door towards the back of the ward and stood in front of it for a moment. The crying wasn’t really as loud as he originally thought, more like soft sobbing. Santa peered into the door and saw who he was supposed to give the final gift of Christmas to. 

The boy in the room looked to be in his mid to late teen years. He had dark brown hair that was spiked ridiculously. His deep sapphire eyes were rimmed with red and were leaking tears like a fountain. 

Santa’s heart fell at the sad scene. He opened the door slowly, as to not scare the boy, and closed it behind him with a soft click. The boy jumped at the noise and turned to stare at Santa. It took a moment for the boy to register what he was seeing but the recognition in the boy’s eyes quickly appeared and made Santa chuckle. 

“Santa? Is that really you?” The teenager whispered somberly. “I knew you existed! I never doubted you!”

Santa didn’t control his chuckle as the boy became animated with excitement and happiness. It was a refreshing change to meet someone so old who still believed in Santa Claus. There was really only one child still alive who still believed in him that long, but for whatever reason, Santa couldn’t recall if he had given that boy a gift or not.

“Yes, my boy, I am Santa. It’s very nice to meet you. It isn’t every day that I get to meet a teenager such as you. Especially one that still believes in me,” Santa answered with a genuine smile on his face. “Now, what is your name?”

“My name is Sora, sir!”

Santa paused for a moment. Wasn’t Sora the name of the boy who lived on the other side of town? Why wasn’t his name on the list? “Well Sora, I know of your case very well. You have a special spot on my nice list. But why are you here? I didn’t know you were in a hospital.”

Sora’s smile disappeared as quickly as it came. “I was just put in here within the last few months. My parents decided that I needed treatment for my cancer.”

Santa immediately sobered. He didn’t know that Sora had cancer. It wasn’t usually something that was put onto the list, and he had unfortunately not been able to watch the children like he used to, he had to get a subset of elves to take over the job. “What kind of cancer?” Santa asked slowly.

“Leukemia and, earlier today, I was pretty sure that I was going to die.”

“Is that so?” Santa frowned. “You at least seem better now; well as good as you can get while in this limbo.”

Sora turned his head, “What do you mean?”

“Well, you see Sora, every year I freeze time all around the world so that I can get all of the Christmas presents to the children. I refer to this frozen time as limbo.”

“Okay, but what about time zones and everything?”

Santa pondered this for a moment before shrugging. “I really don’t know. It just works out; I never took the time to ask Father Time about the technical things.”

“Oh,” Sora stated. “So why are you here exactly? Not that I’m not thrilled to know you’re real and that most of my friends owe me money.”

Santa chuckled. “Well, I’m here to deliver your gift of course!”

Sora averted his gaze and stared at his lap. Santa could feel the intense sadness emanating from Sora as if it were a solid wall coming between them. Silence enveloped the room as Santa stared at the young teenager, as if waiting for a response. His heart ached for the young man when he saw that tears were falling from his face; there was more to the story than he originally thought. 

The older man sat down next to the teen and started to hug him. It took a few minutes before Sora’s tears stopped trailing down his face and Santa looked at the young man before him. He didn’t look as young as he originally thought. His face was haggard and his once tan skin had taken on a sickly pale tone. His eyes were surrounded by dark bags that showed his exhaustion, and, though they were still sparkling, were duller than they should have been. The boy was truly close to death. Santa was almost on the verge of crying before he heard Sora speak. 

“I doubt that you have what I want for Christmas this year,” Sora almost whispered, in the softest, most forlorn tone that Santa had ever heard.

“Well, in that case, why don’t you tell me what you want?” Santa asked with a sad smile. He knew what the answer was, but he knew he would never be able to give it.

“To live.”

Santa sighed. “I’m sorry Sora, but I cannot change the course of fate. Life has its own path, and I can’t do anything to persuade it to take another road.”  
Sora almost looked like he was going to cry again, but took a deep breath and nodded his head. “I should have known that. It was stupid and selfish of me to ask.”

“It was never stupid, nor was it selfish. You are a brave teenager, Sora. Braver than any that I have ever known, and though I cannot give your life back I will grant you one wish. Any wish of your choosing, so long as it is within reason.”

“I want to talk to Roxas, one last time,” Sora answered immediately. “I have something that I wanted to give him, before, well, you know…”

Santa smiled. “Is that your best friend Roxas? He is a good lad. I’m sure that I can grant you at least that.”

Santa stood from the bed and turned to Sora. The boy was frail and almost lifeless; Santa noted and made a mental note to use some magic to help give Sora whatever kind of strength he would need to get his body to move. 

Santa then helped Sora to his feet and gave him some clothes from his bag to wear. After Sora was ready Santa led him down the still hallways and past all of the frozen nurses and doctors. When they reached the chimney, Santa grabbed Sora’s hand and they were both pulled up through the shoot and landed right inside of Santa’s sleigh. Sora’s eyes were wide and Santa chuckled at the shocked reaction.

“Sorry Sora, I should have warned you about that. Now, are you ready to go?” 

“Yes sir!”

Just as Sora answered, the sleigh started picking up speed and propelled from the roof. It flew up in the sky and Sora started screaming in excitement. He could feel his adrenaline running and the cold winter night rushing past him. It was one of the most exhilarating moments of his life. He looked down from the side of the sleigh and saw the town move underneath them and had to stifle his sounds of excitement. 

“Does Roxas still live in that old house on Main Street?” Santa asked, disrupting Sora from his overwhelming sleigh ride.

Sora nodded, “I believe so, sir. I haven’t been out of the hospital in a few months, but I’m pretty sure he should still live there.”

“That’s good. Forgive me for asking, but sometimes my old mind loses some information. I am getting pretty old.”

Sora didn’t answer. He knew that whatever he said would be loaded, and he didn’t want to appear as rude. 

The rest of the ride to Roxas’s house was silent, save for the wind whipping past the flying sleigh and the occasional sound from the reindeer. When they finally reached the house Santa hopped out of the sleigh and helped Sora to stand on the roof. Santa flashed Sora a mischievous grin before he grabbed his hand and they were both magically pulled down the chimney of the small one family home. Sora took a deep breath as Santa led him to the chimney and briefly wondered how they would get down the narrow entry, but was surprised to have blinked and appeared in Roxas’s family room.

“Sorry, the whole ‘down the chimney’ thing goes a lot more quickly than people think it does,” Santa clarified from beside Sora. “Now, how about you go ahead to Roxas’s room, and I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.”

Sora nodded and quietly started making his way through the silent house. He could see Roxas’s parents sitting at the kitchen table looking morose about something, and at the sight of the phone sitting at the edge of the table his question was answered quickly. His heart thudded against his chest and tears almost started running down his face before he reminded himself why he was there in the first place.

It had been a long time since Sora had been in his best friend’s house, almost five months if he really thought about it. He had been bedridden at home for two and put into the hospital for three after that, once his condition had gotten worse. Sora had almost forgotten the way to Roxas’s room, almost. He found the door only seconds later and paused before it. The outside had been plastered with posters of all of Roxas’s favorite bands and sports teams, and Sora’s heart almost stopped when he saw a picture of the two of them from when they were younger. They were the tender age of seven and were sitting on the beach together. It was one of Sora’s favorite memories.

He took a deep breath as he pushed open the door and peered inside the room. Roxas moved his stuff around it seemed. His bed, which was originally right next to the door, had been moved to the far corner of the room underneath the window. It was a very clichéd scene, Sora though as the moonlight poured in through the window and across Roxas’s skin. Sora couldn’t help but stare at the boy who had done so much for him and wonder what could have been if he hadn’t been diagnosed with cancer. Would they still be friends? Would he have told Roxas his feelings? Would Roxas love him back?

The silence was almost stifling and the air in the room felt ten times heavier than before. Sora’s thoughts were floating through the air, weighing him down and making him want to fall to the floor. He was miserable. He was horrible. He almost deserved to die. Roxas would never know that Sora loved him. Roxas wouldn’t know that Sora had been there to say goodbye, and his heart was breaking. He was disappointed in himself for not being enough of a man to tell Roxas. Sora didn’t care if Roxas rejected him, or if Roxas never wanted to see him again. Perhaps it would have been better that way. Roxas would have rejected him and when Sora died he wouldn’t feel any regret and Roxas wouldn’t be as hurt. But now…

Santa peered in the door to see Sora sitting on the floor next to Roxas’s bed, fresh tears running down his face. It was a truly heartbreaking scene and Santa had to do something about it. He gave a small smile and waved his hand before closing the door once again and leaving the two boys alone.

Sora didn’t even notice the exchange but kept staring at Roxas’s unmoving body. It took another few minutes for him to realize that Roxas’s chest was moving and that Roxas was unfrozen and stuck in limbo with him. He reached for Roxas’s hand, intent on holding his hand before the blond boy woke up, but froze and quickly pulled it back as he noticed sapphire orbs staring at him sleepily. Sora was trapped, frozen in the gaze of his best friend and held his breath as Roxas’s eyes widened almost comically. The next thing he knew Roxas had tackled him to the floor.

Sora yelped in surprise and gasped for air as he was slowly suffocated by his best friend. Roxas’s eyes were tearing up and his smile was from ear to ear. “Sora, are you better? How are you here? Do you parents know? Merry Christmas!”

Sora eventually struggled his way out of his best friend’s arms, even if he was reluctant to do so. He allowed himself a small smile as he listened to his friend ramble on and ask him infinite amounts of questions. It was almost as if nothing had ever happened in the first place, which would have been too good to be true.

“Roxas,” Sora breathed with fond exasperation. “I can’t answer any questions if you don’t slow down a bit.”

Roxas stopped and blushed. He didn’t think about that. “Sorry Sora, you know I get excited easily and this is something understandably exciting for me!”

Sora laughed and hugged his friend. It was nice, being like this with Roxas after so long. It really made Sora wonder what would have happened if he had never gotten sick in the first place. 

Roxas took a look at Sora and knew that his friend was deep in thought. “Sora, you’re doing that thinking thing that you know that I hate!”

Sora shook his head and took focus on Roxas, before he realized that he was still holding Roxas in his arms in a fairly romantic way. He quickly pulled his arms away and turned a bright red. “Sorry about that Roxas, I didn’t realize that I was still hugging you.”

Roxas gave Sora a look that he couldn’t quite place, but quickly blushed and mumbled something that Sora couldn’t hear, turning a deeper shade of crimson than before and looking down. 

Sora scratched his head and asked, “What did you say?”

Roxas’s face turned a shade darker, if that was even possible, before he mumbled out, “I like it when you hold me.”

Sora’s face quickly turned scarlet as he turned his head to look away from Roxas. His heart was pounding and he knew that if he wasn’t careful then he would confess his feelings to Roxas right then and there. And he couldn’t do that to Roxas, or himself. So, for that moment he put his arms around Roxas and held him in his arms, trying to memorize the feeling of Roxas in his arms and the warmth that spread throughout his body.

They just sat there like that for a long while, doing nothing but sitting in silence as Sora held Roxas in his arms. It was a peaceful moment, something that Sora hadn’t had in a long time. He was content and even happy at finally being able to hold the boy he loved in his arms for as long as he could. It wasn’t until he felt something cold and wet on his arms that he finally looked down at Roxas.

Roxas was crying. Tears were streaming down his cheeks and his eyes were turning red and puffy quickly. 

Sora quickly used his hand to wipe up the tears from his best friend’s face. “Don’t cry Roxas,” He whispered quietly. “It’ll be all right.”

It wasn’t a moment later that Sora heard Roxas choke back a sob. Roxas quickly turned around from the cuddle and pulled himself deeper into Sora’s embrace. Sora could feel his shirt getting wet and started stroking Roxas’s hair. 

“Sora, is this a dream?” Roxas asked quietly. “Am I just imagining this whole thing?”

Sora could hear the despair in his voice and could feel tears start to form in his eyes. “No, Roxas. I’m as real as can be.”

Sora couldn’t say that he expected what happened next. Roxas sat up straight and looked Sora in the eyes before grabbing him by his collar and pulling their faces together for a kiss.

It wasn’t how Sora expected his first kiss to be. He could feel the brush of Roxas’s velvety lips against his and the tears running down their faces. It might not have been a perfect kiss, but it was the only kiss he ever wanted; when they stopped Sora was breathless and stared into Roxas’s eyes. They were shimmering with tears, but looked hopeful and loving.

“I love you.”

Sora watched as the shining sapphires in front of him widened in surprise, the other boys’ mouth slowly opening into a small ‘o’ shape and his entire body became stock still.

“I love you,” Sora repeated as he pulled Roxas back into another embrace. “And I wanted you to know that. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, really. Every day that I was in that hospital I would think about you and all of the feelings that I had for you. I would think about how I wanted to see you one last time. But I asked your parents to not let you see me. I didn’t want you to see me wither away. I was a shell of what I was. I still am. I can only be here a little while, and I wanted to be able to say goodbye in person.”

Sora knew he ruined the moment. He could see the heartbreak in Roxas’s eyes.

“Does this mean you’re dead?” Roxas asked after a moment of processing Sora’s words. 

Sora took in a deep breath. “Yes.”

Roxas looked at him and pulled him in another tight embrace and brushed their lips together once again roughly, almost desperately and Sora couldn’t help but to respond in kind. He loved the way that Roxas’s lips felt against his. They just fit together so perfectly, as if they were meant to be together, but fate had only destined them that one night to be together.

“I love you too.”

***

When Santa opened the door, he wasn’t expecting to see the two boys asleep on the bed. They looked so peaceful that he almost couldn’t bring himself to disturb them, but knew that it was time for him to take Sora back, even if it broke Santa’s heart.

He slowly walked over to the bed and tapped Sora lightly on the shoulder. The boy blinked his eyes open slowly and looked at Santa. Sora’s eyes were red, and Santa could tell that the boys had had a very emotional talk together.

“I’m sorry son, but it’s time for us to go,” Santa said with an even tone.

Sora nodded somberly and slowly detangled himself from Roxas. He sat on the bed for a moment and looked down at the blond haired boy before standing up and properly tucking Roxas in beneath the sheets. 

“Don’t worry Sora, he’ll be all right,” Santa soothed. “He’ll wake up tomorrow morning perfectly fine.”

Sora nodded and turned to the boy sleeping in the bed. “Just… let me say goodbye,” Sora responded quietly, trembling slightly.

Santa’s heart ached as he nodded and slowly walked towards the door. 

Sora looked down at Roxas and slowly leant down and brushed his lips against the other boy’s forehead.

“Goodbye Roxas, maybe I’ll see you again someday.”

***

The sleigh ride back to the hospital was heartbreakingly silent and Santa tried his best not to cry. The boy next to him looked as though he was dead to the world, but still had a small smile on his face as they flew across the starry sky. If Santa really wanted to think it, he would say that Sora was finally at peace with himself and with the rapid approach of his own passing.

When they finally reached the hospital and Sora was in his bed, Santa sat down in a chair next to Sora. They sat there for a moment, Sora trying hard not to drift off into sleep and Santa trying his hardest to not cry about the unfortunate circumstances of the normally bright and bubbly teenager lying next to him.

“It’s okay Santa,” Sora finally said after a few minutes. “I’m finally ready.”

Santa nodded quietly and ruffled the teenager’s hair. “I hope you find the light Sora.”

Sora smiled weakly and closed his eyes. Sleep came to him moments later and Santa waited only a moment before he started walking towards the door to the room. He turned back and looked one last time at the sleeping boy and prayed to every God he knew that Sora would be okay in the life beyond death.

The door closed with a soft click and Santa moved towards the chimney that he came into the hospital through. The walk seemed longer than it was on the way in, and Santa was swiftly becoming weary of his year-long minute.

When he was finally in his sleigh, he felt the tears running down his face and the sobs he was holding back finally let themselves out. He was heartbroken. He was helpless. He was weak.

The moments went by and eventually he composed himself enough to get the reindeer flying towards their ending destination. He could feel all of the years of his life add up and had never felt any older and more worn out than he had in that flight. He felt ashamed that someone like Sora, someone so young and full of life, had to die after being on the earth less than seventeen years where he had been alive for so many lifetimes and ages. 

But he couldn’t dwell on that now; he at least owed it to Sora to set him free as quickly as possible. He needed to land in the North Pole as soon as possible and let Sora finally rest.

He started to feel the air get colder as he flew towards the north, and felt between relief and guilt as he spotted his work shop. The reindeer started getting restless and anxious as they flew towards the landing strip, seeming as weary as Santa did. He could see the elves, still frozen in whatever celebratory position they were in before he left. He wondered if his wife was awake when he left earlier, or if she was still sleeping peacefully on their bed. He wondered the same of Sora. 

Was he awake and waiting for the end to come, or was he sleeping peacefully, blissfully unaware of what was going to happen? Santa didn’t know and he couldn’t bring himself to think about it.

As soon as the reindeer’s hooves touched the ground, Santa could feel a tear slide down his face. And not a second later, could hear the elves cheering just as loudly and boisterously as they were when he left. He slowly dismounted his sleigh and watched silently as the elves ran back to the work shop to start their celebratory Christmas party.

He turned around and looked toward the southern sky. The stars seemed almost brighter than they were when he left. He could feel someone walking behind him, and knew who it was as soon as she put her arms around him and rested her chin on his shoulder. They stood there like that for a while, and Santa wondered how Roxas was going to react to the news the next morning. Was he going to remember the moments that Sora spent with him or were those precious moments with the one he loves going to fade into some sort of sweet dream?

Santa didn’t know. 

‘But,’ he thought, ‘they’ll be together again. Someday.’

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, sorry if anything offended anyone. Also sorry that this is so sad.


End file.
